


A Series of Variations: Rebels

by ArdentAspen2



Series: The Star Wars Wednesday Collection [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Anthology, Gen, Short Chapters, Star Wars Wednesday, feel free to use these prompts if inspired just credit the source, fic prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:40:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 4,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26705368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArdentAspen2/pseuds/ArdentAspen2
Summary: The next installment of The Star Wars Wednesday collection! I haven't done as many prompts related to Rebels, so it's considerably shorter for now. But as the prompt series continues, it may be expanded.
Relationships: Ezra Bridger & Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger & Sabine Wren, Hera Syndulla & Sabine Wren, Kanan Jarrus & Hera Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla
Series: The Star Wars Wednesday Collection [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942846
Kudos: 11





	1. "A Familiar Face" & "Short Prompt"

###  A Familiar Face

Debris flew in every possible direction as Sabine smirked grimly, watching the Imperials scattering. Served them right for thinking  _ every _ Mandalorian would cooperate with them. Ezra stood beside her, deflecting shots with his lightsaber and using the Force to throw debris out of the way.

“Sabine, we’re nearly surrounded,” he warned. A concussive blast sent them both tumbling, and they came up surrounded by Mandalorians and stormtroopers alike.

Then, without warning, someone vaulted over a low wall and over the heads of three stormtroopers to land gracefully in front of Sabine and Ezra. He straightened, rolled his shoulders, and grinned behind a neatly kept ginger beard.

“ _ Hello _ there,” he said.

“Kryze,” spat a Mandalorian, raising her gun.

Korkie Kryze made a mocking bow. “At your service. Or more accurately,” he nodded to Sabine and Ezra, “at theirs.”

  
  


* * *

###  SHORTS

The governor knew there was bound to be trouble eventually, but she had expected it from the civilians. She had  _ not _ expected to find a garrison in chaos, prisoners released and her shipment of credits missing.

Carved into the wall was a glowing symbol, a letter that would all too soon become infamous: 

_ F for Fulcrum.  _


	2. "Zoinks!" & "Ezra's Adventures in Wonderland"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One short featuring Kanan and Hera in the early days, and one short almost verbatim parodying Lewis Caroll, as inspired by Pomrania on Tumblr

###  Zoinks!

Lightning spread out in the sky above them like branches, followed by a crack of thunder. The speeder pulled to a halt outside the ruins, still grand in a spooky sort of way.

“Well,” said Hera, “I don’t think we’re getting back to the ship before this storm breaks. We should probably camp here until is blows over.”

Kanan shifted uncomfortably beside her.

“I dunno,” the teenager murmured, “Something about this place feels strange, sort of distorted.”

The young Twi'lek captain sighed and shrugged. “I think we’ll have to take our chances.”

Kanan agreed, and they began hauling their cargo up under one of the stone arches. A ghostly wail whistled through the passageway behind them, fading into the wind, and both jumped, grabbing each other’s arms for dear life.

“Gonna be a long night,” Kanan chuckled nervously.

* * *

  
  


###  Ezra’s Adventures in Wonderland

[ @pomrania ](https://tmblr.co/mMhrdu8rr4dJUDaWgkJmbkQ) your Inktober suggestion inspired this

_ Several lines quoted nearly verbatim from Mr. Carroll _

Ezra was beginning to tire of sitting in the field beside Kanan with nothing to do but meditate. Once or twice he’d stolen a glance at his master, reasonably certain that the man was not truly meditating at all, but had somehow fallen asleep sitting bolt upright. The sun beat down uncomfortably hot on his shoulders, and his thoughts began to slow, drawing him more towards the sleep he was certain had claimed Kanan.

He was just beginning to consider whether the variation of a kind of moving-meditation would be worth the effort of standing, when suddenly a White Lothcat with blue eyes ran close by him.

Now, this was not, in and of itself, an oddity. Lothcats did seem to be somewhat drawn to him when he stretched out with the Force. Nor did he find it particularly alarming to hear the Lothcat say to itself, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!” (Although of course that is not at  _ all _ an ordinary thing to hear, and Ezra would later wonder why he had simply accepted this).

But when the Lothcat took an antique timepiece from its waistcoat pocket, and looked at it with alarm before hurrying on, Ezra felt that he simply could not remain where he was. A Lothcat with a timepiece bore investigating, nevermind a Lothcat with a  _ waistcoat _ to put the timepiece in! Terribly curious and certain that he’d be back before Kanan “awoke”, Ezra followed the Lothcat across a field and down into a little burrow in the ground just the right sort of size for a boy like Ezra to fit in. And so in he went without much thought as to how he might get out again.

The burrow split into several tunnels, but the White Lothcat kept to the middle road, which went straight as a traffic lane for a little ways before the ground dropped quite sharply so that Ezra hadn’t more than a moment’s warning in the Force before he was falling, falling, falling down a very deep hole.


	3. Ezra's New Neighbor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just.   
> Straight-up a parody or homage or _something_ to _My Neighbor Totoro_. That's it. That's all I was going for when I wrote this.

###  Ezra’s Neighbor Totoro?

Hera stepped out of the speeder and did not even  _ try _ to muffle her sigh of relief. “Okay kids, everybody out! We’re here!”

The kids in question, plus one grumpy Lasat older than her, scrambled onto the dusty road in a noisy heap. Quite honestly she had no idea how to parent, but Hera and Kanan had taken responsibility for the kids and dangit she was going to do her best.

Zeb wrinkled his nose and stared at the sadly dilapidated house before them. “….look…I get that we can’t afford a lot what with Kanan’s surgery and all, but this is a piece of junk!”

“It looks creepy!” little Sabine exclaimed in delight.

“Creepy!” Ezra parroted in agreement.

“It could be haunted!” the girl continued.

Ezra’s eyes popped wide. “What? Haunted?!”

Hera shooed the two away from the speeder. “You keep that talk up and you’ll trick yourself into thinking there’s ghosts here. Go on, shoo! See if you can find the back door. Take Chopper with you.”

The two groaned, but dutifully waited for the bad-tempered droid to catch up. Ezra paused as they were about to round the corner of the house and turned to stare out at the grasslands. He scrunched up his nose and tilted his head to one side.

“What’s up, squirt?” Zeb grunted, coming to stand next to him.

“Nothin’,” the small boy finally muttered, though he didn’t look convinced. “Just thought I heard something.”


	4. The Lothcat Infestation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If Ezra had joined the Rebels on Hoth while still being followed by the critters from Lothal.

###  The Lothcat Infestation

One lothcat hiding in a place it is very definitely not meant to be is a humorous misfortune.

Two lothcats wildly out of place is unusual coincidence.

Three lothcats on the wrong planet smacks of a plot.

Princess Leia stared down at the wide, pitiful eyes staring up at her, and tried very hard to put on her Stern Leader of the Rebellion voice. She’d had plenty of practice with it of late. Too much.

“Now look here,” she said to the cat as it wound around her ankles, “You may have fur, but Hoth is no place for you! Just what were you doing in that crate, anyway?”

Not that Leia expected the lothcat to answer. And probably best her soldiers didn’t see her talking to a semi domesticated feline. They were under a lot of pressure as it was, they probably didn’t need to see the last princess of Alderaan start conversations with animals.

For its own part, the lothcat simply settled on her boots and purred loudly. With a resigned sigh, Leia scooped up the animal, holding it close in an effort to preserve its body heat, and made her way down to the ice caves that served as hangars. She was looking for one ship in particular that she was certain the lothcat had come in on.

Sure enough, there was Bridger, teasingly prodding at the newly-minted Commander Skywalker, who was getting ready to go out on patrol. And just as Leia had expected, there were the other lothcats she’d been spotting around the base, all happily curled up around the two young Force users.

“Hey Ezra, Luke,” Leia greeted them warmly and held out an armful of suddenly playful lothcat. “Missing one?”

Luke laughed incredulously and leaned out of the way of a teasing swipe of claws. “Where do these little guys keep coming from?!”

Ezra looked a touch embarrassed and scratched at the scar on his cheek. “They follow me. I swear I don’t smuggle them in the luggage intentionally.”

“Better cats than wolves,” General Syndulla made her presence known in passing, pausing only long enough to nod politely to Leia and pat Ezra on the shoulder.

Luke’s eyes widened. “Wolves? I’ve heard of them, but never seen one. I keep imagining them like anoobas for some reason.”

Leia made a face. “In that they hunt in packs depending on the species? I could see it. But other than that, no, not very much like anoobas.”

“Very much not like anoobas,” Ezra agreed. He tried to take the lothcat the princess was holding out and was very nearly scratched for his trouble. “Actually,” he chuckled awkwardly, “I think that one wants to stay with you.”

Across the hangar, Chewbacca could be heard laughing about the princess’s apparent tendency of picking up strays. Those understanding Shyriiwook had a hard time keeping a straight face when they realized exactly who the smuggler was referring to. (Han and Luke would later wonder why techs kept exchanging glances with Chewie and snickering, but they got no real answer.)


	5. Vod'e Legacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This kind of jumped to mind as soon as I found out that Numa, one of my favorite background characters from TCW, was in Rebels as an adult.

###  Vod’e Legacy

A baby on a Rebel base was not the most ordinary thing in the world.

Actually, it was a very very out of the ordinary thing for most of the cells. It just wasn’t  _ safe _ to bring children into a place that could go from 0 to Inferno in moments, depending on how close the Empire was to finding them, and so far the Empire had not demonstrated an overwhelming concern for non-human children, to put it nicely.

So suffice to say that the little blue Twi'lek boy wobbling around the dusty desert base on unsteady legs was a bit of a surprise.

Babbling contentedly to himself, he stopped to poke sticky fingers into whatever part of the nearest droid he could reach. Chopper was duly concerned by this and let everyone in a ten foot radius know it. A stern look from General Syndulla quieted his protests to a faint rumble, and the droid was left to hold his non-existent breath until the toddler tired of tormenting him and moved on.

“Hey there, little buddy,” Ezra stopped to beam down at the little boy as he stepped off the loading ramp of the  _ Ghost _ . “Watch out! Zeb has big boxes, okay?”

“Biboss, otay,” the toddler echoed happily, “Otay ‘Za!”

He couldn’t pronounce most of the names of his mother’s comrades but he certainly tried. He waited until Zeb had left the ship, then hoisted himself over the edge of the ramp and wobbled into the cargo hold. He was looking for someone, and the last time Mama had spoken to him, he’d been in a place that looked like this.

Seated on a low bench that had been set into the wall was an elderly man, a bit worse for wear now than when he’d joined the fight some years ago. He was speaking to the masked man who had a funny beard, and both turned their heads towards him when he entered.

“Is that Numa’s kid?” Kanan asked, sounding almost startled. “What’s he doing on the base?”

Rex shrugged, winced at tired muscles, and leaned back against the wall. “Numa must be here to talk sabotage or something.”

He smiled at the Twi'lek toddler, who grinned right back and scampered up to raise his arms in the universal signal for  _ pick me up _ . Rex made a wry face, put lifted the little boy up onto the bench with him.

“Hullo, Waxer. Oof, you’re getting big! Before long, I won’t be able to lift you!”

“I big now,” Waxer nodded importantly. “I help Mama fly.”

“Oh do you now?” Rex hid an incredulous smile at the announcement. “Well, keep at it, kid. We’ll have ya outflying the General in no time.”

“Not possible,” Kanan interjected flatly, “Nobody can outfly Hera.” Then he leaned down to tap Waxer on the nose. “You’re welcome to try though.”

A few minutes later, Numa poked her head into the hold. “Has anyone seen-? Oh  _ there _ he is! Waxer, I told you to stay where I could see you!”

Waxer pouted, then brightened and pointed to Rex. “Found Wex!”

Numa smiled and scooped him up. “Yes, I see that. Did you tell him goodbye?”

“G'byeee!” he dutifully repeated, though by his facial expression he clearly was not ready to leave. “See you t'mow?”

“No, we won’t see them tomorrow, we’re going to the big ship tomorrow, remember?”

“Awwww man!” Waxer flopped comically over his mother’s shoulder. Numa rolled her eyes and huffed, but she was clearly amused. She nodded her farewells to the Jedi and the retired clone, then slipped out.

There was a moment’s silence, then Kanan said with a thoughtful sort of frown, “Waxer, huh? That’s not really a name I’d expect for a Twi'lek boy.”

“No.” There was something distinctly emotional in Rex’s voice when he answered, and he stubbornly ignored beads of moisture in the corners of his eyes. “She named him after a Brother.”


	6. Timey-Wimey, Wibbly-Wobbly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which, just like in the other collection, Qui-gon Jinn and Dooku wind up Someplace (and Time) they Shouldn't Be.

###  Timey-Wimey, Wibbly-Wobbly

Now, flying through a storm in space is not generally a recommended course of action. There are just far too many things that can go wrong, and most of them end in death.

The two Jedi, unfortunately, had not really been given a vote regarding their pilot’s life choices. Which was a shame, considering those choices were also very closely tied to their own lives.

For about twenty horrible minutes, everything was light and heat and being flung against the crash webbing, and then a sudden impact and silence. Perhaps forty seconds later, thoroughly startled to be alive at all, a gangly young giant of a human kicked out the emergency hatch and collapsed in a heap in the long grass. The sandy browns and tans of his odd robes blended in with the terrain well enough that at first Ezra didn’t see him at all.

But the Loth Cats were congregating around  _ something, _ and he definitely sensed life from the crash, so he edged forward and nearly stepped on the other boy.

“Gah! Sorry!” Ezra hopped back a step as the survivor gingerly sat up. Well karabast, he looked like he was as tall as Kanan and he probably wasn’t much older than Ezra! Life – and genetics – just wasn’t fair sometimes.

“Owwww,” the other boy hissed and rubbed the back of his head. “Hello, you’re dressed strangely for a Padawan.”

Ezra almost choked on his spit.

Sandy robes. Short haircut. One long, weird braid and a ponytail thing. Kanan had described Jedi padawans to him once, and he was fairly certain he was looking at one. He was also fairly certain that this was either Impossible, or A Trap.

“There’s a lot of Dark Side practitioners around these parts of the galaxy,” he said slowly, “Kinda can’t advertise the whole ‘Jedi in Training’ thing. Their buddies don’t like it.”

A Loth Cat rubbed its head against his leg and purred, and the strange padawan cooed.

“I love these things! I love how all their subspecies are so different, but all share the same base behaviors. Right little one? You are the softest, nicest predator in your food chain, aren’t you?” He chuckled as the cat batted playfully at his fingers. “One time, I snuck a tooka cat into our apartment on Coruscant. Master was so upset when it ate his plants!”

The boy jolted. “Master Dooku! Holy  _ Force _ I forgot!”

Standing on wobbly feet, he staggered towards the wreckage. “Here, can you help me? He’s heavy and I won’t be able to lift the debris on my own.”

“Sure, let’s go!” Ezra was already hurrying forward. As impossible as it sounded, there was another Jedi his age standing before him. And apparently, another Jedi knight or master still living, provided they got him out in time. This could be huge for the Rebels!

“Great!” the tall boy stuck out a calloused hand. “I’m Qui-gon, by the way.”

“Ezra,” Ezra replied, shaking the offered hand. “Let’s go find your master, then we can go tell mine. He  _ probably _ won’t freak out.”

“Strict?” Qui-gon asked sympathetically.

Ezra made a face. “More like overprotective, but I guess I don’t mind. Reminds me of my dad sometimes.”

Qui-gon looked intrigued, but said nothing.


	7. Ill Omen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (I originally wrote this for Halloween some time back. Eh, it's almost October. Still appropriate, I guess. This one is meant to hint at a crossover with the novel _Death Troopers_.

###  Ill Omen

At approximately four hours after the closest thing to dawn, there was a containment breach.

Protocols were followed only until the ranking personnel had been evacuated, after which there followed a general breakdown of order. Rather than incinerating the research center, the remaining staff merely fled, leaving the base abandoned.

Abandoned, but not necessarily uninhabited.

A year later, a ship drifted close to the asteroid, seeking shelter from pursuers who had not quite caught up yet. The captain frowned as she looked over her instruments.

“Looks like an old Imperial station of some kind. I’m not picking up any life signs though.”

The young man behind her leaned forward to squint out the viewport. He ran a hand through his shaggy hair and grimaced. “Me neither. Got a bad feeling, though.”

Hera’s lekku twitched in discomfort. “The Force?”

Kanan shrugged. “That, or a general mistrust of creepy, apparently abandoned bases on asteroids. Your call, though.”

Hera guided her ship closer to the asteroid. Despite the apparent lack of power in the complex, the docking ramp still worked. Chopper complained loudly as he followed his captain and the Human Sidekick into the ruined research facility. Life support was still on, though on its last legs. It probably had no more than a week left before the atmosphere ran out.

Kanan stopped short as a wave of cold horror washed over him. “I feel…death,” he said, drawing his brows together. “So much death. And…and something else.”

Hera gritted her teeth and reached for a blast pistol. “I was afraid you were gonna say that. Let’s hope our "friends” out there give up the search so we don’t have to stay here long.“

Chopper rolled away to poke around abandoned computers and started trying to bring one of the consoles online. A quick perusal of the leftover files didn’t raise his opinion of their shelter much. He didn’t know what a "blackwing virus” was, but it sounded fishy.


	8. "Hera is Tired" & "Ladies' Day Out"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which a certain little fluffball from Star Trek returns! And in which Space Mom and Space Daughter go out for a little bonding time. And possibly arson.

###  Hera is Tired

“I’m not mad, guys,” Hera said. Under her breath she added, “Not  _ yet _ , anyway,” then continued. “I just want to know who brought this thing aboard.”

Sabine looked at Zeb. Zeb looked at Chopper. And Chopper made offended noises and waved an arm at Ezra.

“What?!” Ezra yelped, “That is 100% not true! Why would you even think it was me?”

“The tooka,” Zeb counted on one finger.

“The baby fyrnok that one time,” Sabine added.

“And let’s not forget Lothcat-mageddon,” Kanan interjected.

Everyone twitched a little, even Chopper. “Trust me dear,” Hera said with a smirk, “Nobody is going to forget Lothcat-mageddon.”

With a groan, Ezra drooped. “Okay okay, so  _ maybe _ I can connect with nature a little more effectively than we thought. But I did  _ not _ bring  _ that _ aboard!”

The “that” in question was a round ball of fluffy fur, about the size of Zeb’s fist. It had no noticeable eyes, limbs, or mouth, but was making a contented trilling that was…a little more endearing than expected. It sat innocently on a bench in the cargo hold, seemingly unaware of the discussion going on around it.

“C'mon guys, one of you knows how it got in here,” Hera sighed. “I don’t think it  _ walked _ in.”

Chopper had absolutely no intention of admitting that he’d accidentally brought the thing in when dragging an anti-grav sled up the loading ramp. It wasn’t like he’d done it on purpose this time or anything.

The crew left the cargo hold to pilot the ship out of the port. Nobody noticed the extra fluffball sitting beside their little stowaway.

* * *

###  Ladies’ Day Out

Kanan slid down the ladder and into the cargo bay.

“I don’t know what Ezra did this time, but if you could stop Chopper from trying to electrocute him every time he sits down, meditating would be a lot easier.”

He stopped and blinked several times. Hera and Sabine stared right back, unfazed.

“That’s…an awful lot of ammo you’ve got there,” Kanan said, as casually as he could.

Sabine strapped a small pouch of grenades to her belt, then threw on a loose, decorative shirt. It covered both the armor and the three blast pistols she was carrying. She took what looked like a hypospray of some kind from Hera, and fixed it to the back of a glittering ornament of some kind before tucking it into her hair.

“Ladies’ day out, Kanan,” the young artist announced cheerfully. “Hera and I are going to go have a little bonding time.”

Kanan raised one eyebrow as he took in the sheer amount of explosives Sabine was tucking into her costume. “Are you sure you don’t mean  _ bombing _ time?”

Sabine shrugged and grinned. “The two are not mutually exclusive at this time.”

Hera finished applying a careful coat of makeup over her lekku and face, altering her appearance enough to fool a casual glance. She slung an old, soft poncho over her shoulders and reached up to playfully pat Kanan’s cheek.

“It’s for Fulcrum, love. Just a routine pickup and a little bit of sabotage. Don’t worry, we’ll call in if things get out of hand.”

Kanan sighed. He knew Hera and Sabine were more than capable of getting the job done. He just tended to worry about the crew anyway. That appeared to be just part of taking on a padawan, so far.

“I’ll keep the radar up and let you know if any unfriendly ships turn up. If I call you, assume either we’ve got an Inquisitor sighting, or Chopper is trying to kill us.”

“Thanks Kanan,” Sabine waved and headed for the ramp. “Have fun!”

“Uh, you…too…I guess?” Kanan waved back with a slightly puzzled frown as the two left.

He hoped they wouldn’t end up having to use all that ammunition they’d brought.


	9. Ezra Has a Visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The (current) finale of this particular collection, featuring a scenario in which Ezra is contacted by the Alliance post-Rebels

###  Ezra Has a Visitor

The sun shone brightly through the windows, sending warm rays racing across the floor. As light is wont to do, they gleefully pointed out every hidden thing in the room, then rudely invaded the eyelids of the room’s occupant.

This was especially insulting, because it was the middle of the night.

It is very tempting in most cases to roll over and ignore the light. Or to pull one’s pillow over one’s head and shout “Kriff! Sithspawn take it! Get out of my room!” But this is complicated slightly when one owns a lothcat. It is not so much that a lothcat can’t tell time – they cannot, but time rarely listens to bipeds either, so this is an irrelevant fact – it’s more that the presence of light suggests to them that their roommate is preparing to begin their day. Which means, of course, that a clever roommate who knows what is good for then is preparing to feed their lothcat.

And so it was that Ezra Bridger was gently reminded of mealtime schedules by a paw slapping him across the nose.

“Ow!” he said, and, “Get your paw out of my mouth!” and, “Oh Force why!” and other such expressions of affection.

Removing the cat and holding it at arm’s length, Ezra sat up. “It isn’t morning,” he scolded.

“Miaw!” the lothcat scolded back.

Ezra Bridgers are very stubborn creatures, but so are lothcats.

“This is not daylight,” Ezra tried to reason, “Someone is trying to wake us up.”

The lothcat considered this, then replied, “Miaw!”

This was a very good point, and Ezra grudgingly conceded.

After feeding the inappropriately smug lothcat, Ezra put on his shoes and his holster and all the usual things one needs when going to lodge a complaint against the neighbors. Then he went to find out who was shining spotlights through his window in the middle of the night.

It was not, in fact, the neighbors. This was a relief, because the majority of Ezra’s neighbors were animals, and the discovery of the use of technology by animals didn’t bode particularly well for his home security. Instead, a large ship sat squarely in the patch of grass that Ezra liked to pretend was a yard, shining its headlights right at his house. As Ezra had sensed no particular danger, this was likely not an enemy.

This did not rule out an irritation, of course.

The ship was a Corellian freighter – heavily modded, missing a few pieces, but overall in good condition. The docking ramp lowered, and a human walked down.

“Hello,” she said.

“Oh no,” Ezra said.

“I’m afraid so,” Princess Leia agreed. “I’d rather not disturb you, but my brother is in some trouble.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Ezra, who hadn’t known the princess had a brother at all.

“Yes, so am I,” said the princess. “Seeing as you have a well-known tendency for working with hostile animals, I wondered if you might be willing to help me.”

This had many implications and Ezra did not care for most of them.

“What,” he asked, “Has your brother gotten himself into, exactly?”

It turned out that Luke Skywalker had sent a transmission that he was being pursued by Darth Vader and the Black Squadron shortly before being shot down over the moon of Llorrac. The next communication Leia had received had come from a dire situation in the middle of a nest of bandersnatches.

“But you needn’t concern yourself about Darth Vader,” Leia assured Ezra, while managing not to sound reassuring at all, “Luke and I will handle that.”

“I see,” said Ezra.

“Miaw,” agreed the lothcat.


End file.
